System and method for facilitating distribution of limited resources

ABSTRACT

A method is provided for distributing limited resources. The method comprising the following steps. A plurality of limited resources about to expire on a given day is determined. The plurality of limited resources is made available simultaneously. Resource requests from a plurality of clients for a registration period are allowed starting at a predetermined time. The resource requests are processed after the registration period by correlating the limited resources with the received resource requests.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of earlier application havingapplication Ser. No. 11/532,061 filed Sep. 14, 2006 now U.S. Pat. No.______, granted on and claims priority under 35 U.S.C. 120 thereto. Thedisclosure of aforementioned application Ser. No. 11/532,061 is herebyincorporated by reference in it's entirety.

The present invention relates generally to the distribution of limitedresources, and specifically to a server and method for facilitating thedistribution of such resources.

BACKGROUND

A domain name is a name that can be entered into a computing device inorder to access a web-site, for example. The domain name is looked up ina global Domain Name System (DNS) which informs the computing device ofthe Internet Protocol (IP) address for that domain name. The computingdevice can then access the web-site by contacting a server at thereceived IP address.

Although assigned to a “domain holder” or “registrant”, domain names arecontrolled by domain name registries. Typically registration of a domainname is described as follows. Each registry is assigned one or moretop-level domains, such as .com, .org, and the like. Most domainregistries implement a registry-registrar model for registering thedomain names. In this model, the registry only has to manage itsrelationship with the registrars. In turn, each registrar maintains itsrelationship with the registrants.

The registrant purchases a domain name from the registrar. The registrarregisters the purchase with the registry. The registry updates the DNSto reflect the IP address of the registrant for the purchased domainname. In order to maintain rights to use the domain names, theregistrant pays an renewal fee before an annual expiration date.

If the registrant does not renew the domain name by the expiration date,the domain name becomes expired. A grace period is often provided by theregistrar before sending a delete request to the registry.

After the grace period, the registrar requests deletion of the domainname from the registry. Upon request of the deletion, the domain nameenters a redemption grace period. The redemption grace period, typically30 days, allows the registrar (and registrant) to restore the domainname from a pending deletion status and further allows them to renew thedomain name. However, during this period all Internet servicesassociated the domain name are disabled.

After the redemption grace period, the domain name becomes locked andenters a redemption hold period. The redemption hold period typicallylasts for five days. On the last day, the domain name is officiallydropped from the registry database and becomes available forregistration on a “first-come, first-served” basis.

Due to the proliferation of the Internet, domain names can be extremelyvaluable marketing tools. Specifically, domain names that are intuitivecan be very useful for a person or company wishing to make informationavailable to the general public. This is a concept that is well known inthe art and has led to practices such as domain name speculation.

Accordingly, when a previously used, but desirable domain name becomesavailable, registrants and, more typically, registrars that are involvedin domain name speculation have a great incentive to apply a heavy loadon the corresponding registry. Specifically, since domain names areawarded on a first-come, first-served basis, a speculator with thefastest access to the registry, or most number of connections thataccess the registry, stands the best chance of being the first toregister a previously used domain name.

It is desirable for registries to provide relatively equivalent or equalaccess to previously used domain names that does not favour either largeor incumbent registrars in the industry. However, using the first-come,first served model described above rewards registrars with the mostpowerful equipment or the most number of connections into the registryvia multiple proxy registrars. Accordingly, this has resulted in anescalating “arms” race, with competing registrars applying constantlyincreasing loads against the registry, thereby threatening the ongoingperformance and stability of the registry.

For example, the load generated on the registry when registrars attemptto acquire a previously used domain name via the current process is manytimes greater than that generated during regular registry operations.Therefore, the registry has to be maintained to accommodate a peakbandwidth that is significantly greater than it would typically requirefor normal operation. Continuing to increase resources at the registryto address this small percentage of competing registrars is aninadequate solution as it provides a continuously escalating additionalcost to the registry.

Further, the current process limits fair and equivalent access to thelist of previously used domain names being deleted by the registry on adaily basis, as smaller registrars are less likely to have the resourcesto compete with larger registrars.

Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide amechanism for acquiring previously used domain names that obviates ormitigates at least some of the problems described above.

SUMMARY

In accordance with an aspect of the present invention there is provide amethod for distributing limited resources, the method comprising thesteps of: determining a plurality of limited resources about to expireon a given day; making the plurality of limited resources availablesimultaneously; allowing resource requests from a plurality of clientsfor a registration period starting at a predetermined time; andprocessing the resource requests after the registration period bycorrelating the limited resources with the received resource requests.

In accordance with a further aspect of the present invention there isprovide a system for distributing limited resources, the systemcomprising: a main server configured to provide standard applicationserver functionality; a drop zone server configured to receive resourcerequests for the limited resource; and a drop zone control moduleconfigured determine when the limited resource expires from the mainserver, parse the drop zone server for corresponding resource requests,and distribute the limited resource accordingly.

In accordance with a further aspect of the present invention there isprovided a computer readable medium comprising instructions which, whenexecuting by a computer, cause the computer to implement the steps of:determining a plurality of limited resources about to expire on a givenday; making the plurality of limited resources available simultaneously;allowing resource requests from a plurality of clients for aregistration period starting at a predetermined time; and processing theresource requests after the registration period by correlating thelimited resources with the received resource requests.

In the system described above, the drop zone server may further beconfigured to make a plurality of limited resources availablesimultaneously.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Embodiments of the present invention will now be described by way ofexample only with reference to the following drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is block diagram of a drop zone infrastructure;

FIG. 2 is a flow chart illustrating a registration process for previousused domain names that become available;

FIG. 3 is a flow chart illustrating the registration request process ofFIG. 2 in greater detail; and

FIG. 4 is a flow chart illustrating the registration fulfillment processof FIG. 2 in greater detail.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

For convenience, like numerals in the description refer to likestructures in the drawings. Referring to FIG. 1, a drop zoneinfrastructure is illustrated generally by numeral 100. The drop zoneinfrastructure 100 includes one or more registrars 102, one or more dropzone servers 104, one or more main registry servers 106, and a drop zonecontrol module 108.

The registrars 102 are in communication with both the drop zone server104 and the main registry server 106 via a communication network 110. Aswill be appreciated, the communication network 110 may be a wide-areanetwork (WAN), such as the Internet, or a local-area network (LAN).

The drop zone server 104 is in communication with the drop zone controlmodule 108, which is in communication with the main registry servers106. Although the drop zone control module 108 is illustrated as aseparate device, it will be appreciated that it can be incorporated aspart of either the drop zone server 104 or the main registry server 106.Further, the registrars 102 have a corresponding account set up witheither the drop zone server 104 or main registry server 106, or both, tofacilitate payment of services. Different configurations of the dropzone infrastructure 100 will become apparent to a person of ordinaryskill in the art.

Effectively, the drop zone server 104 provides a limited registrysystem. Accordingly, the drop zone server supports a limited number ofcommands. In the present embodiment, the drop zone server 104 supportsthree primary commands: Login; Domain Create; and ExtensibleProvisioning Protocol (EPP) Hello. EPP provides a standard Internetdomain name registration protocol for use between the registrars 102 andthe main registry server 106. EPP is well known in the art and need notbe described in detail. The Login command is used by the registrars 102to access the drop zone server 104. Domain Create is used to request adomain name. EPP Hello is used to verify connectivity by the registrars102 to the drop zone servers 104.

The drop zone control module 108 controls the distribution of requesteddomain names in accordance with available domain names and registrationrequests submitted to the drop zone servers 104, as will be described.Accordingly, it will be appreciated that the main registry servers 106can be used primarily for tasks such as maintaining the DNS registry andservicing DNS resolution queries. Connectivity to the drop zone server104 can be highly limited and equivalent between registrars. Forexample, each registrar 102 can be limited to three connections to thedrop zone server 104. This affords scalability and the ability tomaintain separate connectivity policies for the drop zone server 104 andthe main registry server 106.

Further, it can be seen that the drop zone server 104 provides asegregated system from the main registry server 106 for managing asynchronized full release of previously used domain names that havereached the end of their redemption hold periods. Registrars 102 will beless likely and will have less incentive to maintain a high number ofconnections to the main registry server 106 for catching a domain namewhen previously used domain names are released, or dropped via the dropzone server 104.

Referring to FIG. 2, a flow diagram illustrating a process forregistering a domain name using the drop zone infrastructure 100 isshown generally by numeral 200. In step 202 the registrars submitregistration requests to the drop zone server 104 for previously useddomain names available for registration. In step 204, the drop zonecontrol module 108 parses the registration requests received by the dropzone server 104 and assigns the previously used domain namesaccordingly. Both of these steps 202 and 204 are described in greaterdetail with reference to FIGS. 3 and 4.

Referring to FIG. 3, a flow diagram illustrates the step 202 ofrequesting registration of a previously used domain name in greaterdetail. In step 302, the registrars 102 connect with the drop zoneserver 104. The registrars 102 are initially able to test theirconnectivity to the drop zone server 104 using the EPP Hello command.However, an attempt to register a previously used domain name at thispoint, using the Domain Create command, would result in an error.

In step 304, a plurality of previously used domain names for which theredemption hold period is expiring that day is made accessible forregistration simultaneously to all registrars. In the presentembodiment, the term day refers to a calendar day, although it will beappreciated that it can be any predefined time period. Further, in thepresent embodiment, all previously owned domain names for which theredemption hold period is expiring that day are made accessible.

In step 306, at a predefined time that allows the registrars 102 to haveestablished a connection with the drop zone server 104, a change is madeto the status of the drop zone server 104 and it is opened for domainname registrations. Once the drop zone server 104 opens, the registrars102 can submit registration requests for desired domain names. Theregistrars 102 may only register for previously used domain names listedfor release that day. This information is made available to each of theregistrars 102 by a daily published redemption hold period domainreports, provided to all registrars 102.

At step 308, the drop zone server 104 records the received registrationrequests and maintains them in the order in which they are received. Aswill be appreciated by a person skilled in the art, this can be achievedin a number of different ways. For example, the registration requestsmay be maintained in a first-in-first-out (FIFO) queue. Alternatively,the time the registration request is received is stored along with theregistration request. In this example, the resolution of the time issufficient to distinguish between consecutive registration requests.Accordingly, since the order of the registration requests is maintained,the drop zone server 104 accepts duplicate registration requests.

In the present embodiment, it is the responsibility of the registrar 102to ensure that the registration request is for an available previouslyused domain name. If the registrar 102 submits an incorrect registrationrequest, for example, for a domain name not in the published report, therequest results in an error and is not processed by the drop zonecontrol module 108. Optionally, the registrar is advised of the errorvia an error message from the drop zone server 104.

In step 310, after a predefined time a change is made to the status ofthe drop zone server 104 and it is closed to domain name registrationsfor that day. As an example, the drop zone server 104 remains open fortwo hours. However, it will be appreciated that since all previouslyowned domain names available for registration are releasedsimultaneously, they will likely be spoken for within several minutes.

Referring to FIG. 4, a flow diagram illustrates the step 204 ofassigning a previously owned domain name in greater detail. In step 402,the drop zone control module 108 determines which previously owneddomain names maintained by the main registry server 106 are completingtheir redemption hold period that day.

At step 404, as the redemption hold period expires for each previouslyused domain name, the drop zone control module 108 determines if acorresponding registration request was submitted to the drop zone server104. If no corresponding registration request was received for thepreviously used domain name, the process continues to step 406. In step406, the previously used domain name is deleted from the main registryserver 106 and released in a manner that is standard in the art.

If a corresponding registration request was received for the previouslyused domain name, the process continues to step 408. In step 408, thedrop zone control module 108 retrieves the first received registrationrequest for the previously used domain name. In step 410, the drop zonecontrol module 108 determines whether or not the registrar 102 thatsubmitted the registration request has sufficient funds in itscorresponding account to pay for the registration request.

If there are sufficient funds in the account, the drop zone controlmodule 108 continues to step 412. In step 412, the drop zone controlmodule 108 processes the registration request. That is, old registrationinformation for the previously used domain name is deleted and replacedwith new registration information provided by the registrar 102. Theregistrar's corresponding account is charged for the registration.

If, however, there are insufficient funds in the account, the drop zonecontrol module 108 continues to step 414. In step 414, the drop zonecontrol module 108 determines if there are any further registrationrequests for the previously used domain name.

If there are no further registration requests for the previously useddomain name, the drop zone control module 108 continues to step 406 andthe previously used domain is released as described above. If, however,there are further registration requests for the previously used domainname, the drop zone control module 108 continues to step 416. In step416, the drop zone control module 108 retrieves the next sequentialregistration request from the drop zone server 104.

As previously described, in the present embodiment, the sequence inwhich the duplicate registration requests are received by the drop zoneserver 104 is maintained. The drop zone control module 108 returns tostep 410 to determine whether or not the registrar 102 that submittedthe next sequential registration request has sufficient funds in itscorresponding account to pay for the registration request. This processis implemented for the previously used domain names listed in the dailyredemption hold period report for that particular day.

The registrar 102 is informed that the registration request wassuccessful via a daily result report. The daily result report lists theresults following the completion of the distribution process describedabove. In the present embodiment, the daily result report is private toeach registrar 102. After this point the registrar 102 can confirm theregistration of the previously used domain name with the main registryserver 106.

Accordingly, it will be appreciated that registration of previously useddomain names as described above improves the fairness in which thedomain names are distributed. Specifically, since the number ofconnections per registrar 102 can be significantly limited and aplurality of domain names become available simultaneously, theregistrars 102 have to prioritize the previously used domain names forwhich they will attempt to register. This feature increases the oddsthat previously used domain names will be distributed more evenlyamongst the registrars.

Although the previous embodiment relates specifically to thedistribution of previous used domain names, a person skilled in the artwill appreciate that the invention need not be so limited. Rather, thesame solution may be implemented to solve similar problems. That is,when there are a number of different bidders competing for limitedresources the solution described above may be implemented.

For example, consider the case where the limited resources are newlyreleased domain names. This may occur with the release of a newtop-level domain or with the release of previously withheld domain namesfor an existing top-level domain. Such a release would result in asimilar problem as the release of previously used domain names.Accordingly, the system and method described above could be implementedto facilitate distribution of these domain names.

As another example, consider the case when the limited resources areauction items rather than previously used domain names. The drop zoneserver 104 can open to bids on all items for which the auction isexpiring during a given time period. Similarly to the embodimentdescribed above, bidders would have to prioritize their bid, rather thanbeing able to focus on each auction item. This, in turn, increases thelikelihood that more bidders will be successful in at least one bid.

Although the invention has been described with reference to certainspecific embodiments, various modifications thereof will be apparent tothose skilled in the art without departing from the scope of theinvention as defined by the appended claims.

1. A system for distributing a limited resource selected from aplurality of limited resources in response to requests from a pluralityof requestors, the system comprising: a main server configured toprovide standard application server functionality, includingadministering the plurality of limited resources, and to implement afirst connectivity policy for limiting connectivity thereto; a drop zoneserver configured to: implement at least a subset of functionalityprovided by the main server for administering the plurality of limitedresources; receive resource requests directly from the plurality ofrequestors for the selected limited resource on behalf of the mainserver; and implement a second connectivity policy, more restrictivethan the first connectivity policy, for limiting connectivity thereto;and a drop zone control module configured to communicate with both themain server and the drop zone server to determine when the selectedlimited resource expires from the main server, parse the drop zoneserver for corresponding resource requests, determine which of theplurality of requestors is to receive the selected limited resource anddistribute the selected limited resource accordingly.
 2. The system ofclaim 1, wherein the drop zone server is further configured to make theplurality of limited resources available simultaneously.
 3. The systemof claim 2, where the plurality of limited resources comprises alllimited resources expiring on a given day.
 4. The system of claim 1,wherein the second connectivity policy limits each client to threeconnections.
 5. The system of claim 2, wherein the selected limitedresource is a previously used domain name; the resource request is aregistration request; the main server is a main registry serverconfigured to provide domain name system functionality.
 6. The system ofclaim 2, wherein the selected limited resource is a new domain name; theresource request is a registration request; and the main server is amain registry server configured to provide domain name systemfunctionality.
 7. The system of claim 2, wherein the selected limitedresource is an auction item; the resource request is a bid on theauction item; and the main server is a main auction server configured toprovide auction functionality.
 8. A non-transitory computer readablemedium having stored thereon instructions, which, when executed by acomputer, cause the computer to implement the steps of: determining aplurality of limited resources expiring from a main server during apredetermined expiration period, the main server configured toadminister the plurality of limited resources and to implement a firstconnectivity policy for limiting connectivity thereto; making theplurality of limited resources available simultaneously on a drop zoneserver, the drop zone server configured to implement at least a subsetof functionality provided by the main server and to implement a secondconnectivity policy, more restrictive than the first connectivitypolicy, for limiting connectivity thereto; allowing resource requests tobe received at the drop zone server directly from a plurality of clientsfor a registration period starting at a predetermined time; andprocessing the resource requests after the registration period bycorrelating the limited resources with the resource requests.
 9. Thenon-transitory computer readable medium of claim 8, wherein theplurality of limited resources comprises all limited resources expiringduring a given day.
 10. The non-transitory computer readable medium ofclaim 8, wherein the limited resources are processed as they expire. 11.The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 8, whereinduplicate resource requests are maintained and processed in a sequencein which they are received.
 12. The non-transitory computer readablemedium of claim 11, wherein if one of the resource requests fails, asubsequent duplicate resource request is processed.
 13. Thenon-transitory computer readable medium of claim 12, wherein theresource request fails due to insufficient funds in an account of acorresponding requesting client.
 14. The non-transitory computerreadable medium of claim 8, further comprising instructions forproviding a connection period prior to allowing the resource requestsfor enabling the clients to ensure that they can establish a connection.15. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 8, wherein thelimited resource is a previously used domain name; the resource requestis a registration request; and the client is a registrar.
 16. Thenon-transitory computer readable medium of claim 8, wherein the limitedresource is a new domain name; the resource request is a registrationrequest; and the client is a registrar.
 17. The non-transitory computerreadable medium of claim 8, wherein the limited resource is an auctionitem; the resource request is a bid on the limited resource; and theclient is a bidder.
 18. A system for distributing a domain name inresponse to requests from a plurality of requestors, the systemcomprising: a main server configured to provide standard domain nameserver functionality, including administering the domain name, and toimplement a first connectivity policy for limiting connectivity thereto;a drop zone server configured to: implement at least a subset offunctionality provided by the main server for connecting with theplurality of requestors and receiving registration requests for thedomain name; receive registration requests directly from the pluralityof requestors for the domain name on behalf of the main server; andimplement a second connectivity policy, more restrictive than the firstconnectivity policy, for limiting connectivity thereto; and a drop zonecontrol module configured to communicate with both the main server andthe drop zone server to determine when the domain name expires from themain server, parse the drop zone server for corresponding resourcerequests, determine which of the plurality of requestors is to receivethe domain name, and distribute the domain name accordingly.